Publishing house Egmont UK launched the music magazine aimed at 13-15 year-olds last July after identifying a gap in the market. In its first six months, the £2.99 magazine racked up a print circulation of 47,620 until December 2011, just over 12,000 less than market leader Bliss. The magazine is printed by Poole company Southern Print.

Its readership including social media and website users nearly tripled the print circulation, bringing the magazine's reach to 135,000. To celebrate its multi-media presence, We Love Pop is launching a free reality app for all platforms, which enables readers to place their own photograph on the cover.

Editor Malcolm McKenzie said: "I am just glad to still be here. New launches are notoriously dangerous, as you fill them with your hopes and dreams and sometimes the market just isn’t there.

"But for We Love Pop, the market is definitely there.

"A few years back, pop music took a nosedive and Smash Hits and TV Hits folded. Now, with boy bands coming back onto the music scene and talent shows becoming increasingly popular, we saw that there was a gap in the market.

"We decided to put a magazine out there for the people who clearly are buying pop records."

Brands such as Proctor and Gamble, Sony BMG and Universal Music have advertised in the magazine and Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrisons are set to display promotional media in-store for the launch of the birthday issue on 25 July.